1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to toy vehicles and, more particularly, to toy vehicles having a modular design.
2. Background Art
Radio-controlled (RC) cars as well as other toy cars, have been very popular with children of various ages over the years. However, a disadvantage of many toy cars is that generally speaking they are fixed in design and cannot be changed. This means that a child can often become bored with them after a period of time. Furthermore, many children express satisfaction with being able to build or work on a toy themselves. Yet, many radio-controlled cars and other toy cars have a complex construction and have components which are complicated and not easily adapted to be built or switched out by children. What is needed is a toy vehicle having universally and easily interchangeable components such that a child may be able to build or customize their own toys.
Attempts have been made to design toy vehicles with interchangeable components, however, the interchangeable modules for a given vehicle design can each have a distinctly different attachment mechanisms. For example, for a given vehicle, there can be multiple types of attachment mechanisms for the front bumper area of the vehicle and a totally different set of attachment mechanisms for the sides and rear of the vehicle. A more simple design is needed for attachments and accessories where the attachment mechanisms are more universal and easy for children of all ages to install.
Attempts have been made to develop less complex designs and with more universal attachment mechanisms, however, the designs are quite convoluted in that a child can place any accessory at any location on the toy vehicle, even at locations where the accessory is not intended to be installed. A design is needed where the attachment mechanisms are universal, but the design is such that accessories can only be installed at their intended locations. Further, many attempts to develop a design that addresses this need has resulted in a design with a less than appealing appearance having unsightly holes or contact points at locations that take away from the appearance of the vehicle, particularly when an accessory is not installed. This is particularly important when the owner of the toy vehicle is concerned about whether the appearance of the vehicle closely mimics the appearance of a full size vehicle. Unsightly holes or contact points all over the vehicle negates the attempt to mimic the appearance of a full size vehicle.
Further, the attempts to develop a design having interchangeable accessories and attachments have not provided mechanisms for supplying power to accessories, such as for example, providing power to accessories having LED lights and/or sound emitting devices. There are various toy vehicle designs that exist that include light emitting and/or sound emitting devices, however, these devices are not interchangeable accessories.